Elizabeth Paley

Ada and Évariste have gathered a trove of mathematically intriguing treasures at the beach. Some are clearly critter-made: Ada holds a Babylonian numeral tile found under a dodecahedral fishing float, while Évariste carries Borromean rings dug from the sand. They hope seashells offer data to resolve two burning questions: (1) The golden ratio in conch whorls and shark-eye spirals: rumor or reality? And (2) fractals on sea olive surfaces: fact or fiction? Ontologically, the rodents are unaware of how mathematics shaped _them_. Like most of the clay critters in Mathemalchemy, they began as collections of cylindrical, spherical, conical, and otherwise rotationally symmetric wheel-thrown components that were then altered and assembled.